July 10, Torrey said (in part): > ... Am I thinking big enough yet? Not yet. Shrink the beltline to the size of East Wash, add bike paths and subways, and then add infill development. > This would result in increased passenger capacity and increased tax base. Now that is thinking big. Can anybody think bigger?
That's pretty big! I just have a couple thoughts to add/comment: In order to get people of the area to actively support the plan, there would have to be something in the plan FOR THEM. Sure, you can say the city of Madison will be better to be in without having all that motor vehicle congestion, that the air will be safer to breathe -- especially on hot summer days, when the sun cooks the volatile organic chemicals (VOCs) emitted in auto exhaust and other sources and produces dangerous levels of ozone near the ground, making it more unhealthy for Madisonians and people in the area in general to be outdoors, and that perhaps the temperature levels in the city will not climb as high as they otherwise might climb (heat island effect), provided green space is added to the city to replace the beltline highway pavement and parking lots in the city. There would be considerably less gasoline burned in the city and county, because 5 billion motor-powered vehicle miles being driven on Dane County roads burns up a lot of fuel. This would reduce Dane County's contributions to global warming, and might encourage other governmental jurisdictions to follow suit, thus perhaps slowing down global warming even more (hopefully).. But those things just don't cut it with most people. The car is king here in Madison - and especially in Madison outlying suburbs and hideaways, - as much as it is elsewhere in the U.S., and we have the auto industry, the mass media, the highway and bridge building industry, the oil industry, multiple spin-off industries, and the vast majority of our representatives in Government to thank for much of that. The car is third behind Mom and apple pie in terms of what Americans cherish most. So what you will have to do is convince residents of the Madison area', and Madisonians who live in the outside suburbs and surrounding hideaway, that they would need to USE the subway system once they reach Madison's city limits, including the East Washington Avenue corridor. Since people living in and around Madison and most other areas of Wisconsin have gotten use to driving 4-lane divided highways -- back and forth to work, in, through and around Madison, for other purposes, and driving solo (alone in vehicle), for the most part, comfortably, conveniently (except for road construction and traffic congestion), this will be no small feat. Most people hooked on driving, everywhere, have little incentive to change to other modes of travel, or simply "drive less". Therefore, most of these people would likely be totally apathetic (silent) to the idea of Madison building a subway system, or they might object to the idea for fear of it ultimately increasing THEIR taxes, or worse yet, taking away their freedom to drive as much as they want to, wherever and whenever they please, regardless of how it affects other people, the present and the future. To make this picture a tad bigger, I'd suggest including financial incentives for people to DRIVE LESS in your plan, so that residents and households of Dane County voluntarily reduce their annual household vehicle miles traveled (HVMT). (People who don't drive at all should be reward, too.) You might suggest the gasoline tax (at the pump) that the state charges include a countywide tax surcharge (per gallon of fuel purchased), which would cover the "costs" of funding the rebates. (The "costs" are really not public costs at all if they are transferred back to the public, in the form of incentives to drive less -- they simply "transfer payments".) A subway plan alternative would likely reduce the amount of motor vehicles using the East Washington Avenue corridor and other major thoroughfares in Madison, as well the use or need for 4-lane highways and local road expansion located in and around Madison, and the plans for the North Beltline could probably also be dropped, saving the costs of that major highway development and the environmental and social damages in will inflict on the area, should it be built, as well as the geographic areas along the road network it would feed (to say nothing about the damage of opening additional gravel pits for building the project and the pollution additional cars using the new beltline would emit following completion of the project). People who presently drive solo to work and back, or to other places, would have an incentive to car pool more often; use the Madison Metro's transit system more regularly; bike to work, play, shop, study, etc.; work at home (or nearer to home) more often; in general, drive less than they do now. They might be inclined to take shorter trips for vacations, and use their cars less for recreating. Business entrepreneurs might begin to think about building smaller stores and establishments located closer to where people live and work, people might begin to demand less auto centric kinds of development patterns, over the trend for having just major shopping districts that people to drive long distances to get basic products and services.. Residents might have to petition their local zoning boards to allow for such developments in neighborhoods; adults might encourage their children to walk or bike to school (or take the bus) more often (rather than being driven every day) and their would be less fuel tankers on the highways leading into Madison. The cumulative effect of having thousands upon thousands of Dane County residents demanding more environmentally sustainable and affordable housing and service development patterns, ones that rely less on personal automobile driving, and more on walking, bicycling and/or using transit or the subway system, may help bring such developments about more quickly. But first the area residents must be convinced that it is in their own personal best interest, and the best interests of the friends and family members, to turn that picture into reality around Madison. http://danenet.danenet.org/bcp/trans/neuman_vmt.html http://danenet.wicip.org/bcp/neuman_gw.pdf ________________________________________________________________ The best thing to hit the internet in years - Juno SpeedBand! Surf the web up to FIVE TIMES FASTER! Only $14.95/ month - visit www.juno.com to sign up today! _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.danenet.org/mailman/listinfo/bikies
